Hudson’s Bay to Buy Saks for $2.4B

Retail giants to merge

Canadian chain Hudson’s Bay (HBC) has agreed to buy Saks (SKS), a Fortune 1000 company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

The New York Times reports that Hudson’s Bay, owner of Lord & Taylor department stores, will shell out $2.4 billion in cash for the high-end retailer Saks. The company is primarily known as the flagship store of Saks Fifth Avenue, a luxury specialty store located in Manhattan’s posh Upper East Side.

Hudson’s Bay will purchase Saks for $16 a share, a figure that’s about 4.5% higher than their closing price on Friday.

The Canadian company plans to pay for the transaction with $1 billion of new stock, $400 million of new bonds, borrowing $1.8 billion in loans, and cash. The total value of this merger is estimated to be $2.9 billion after debt is taken into account.

After the merger goes through, Hudson’s Bay will have 320 stores around the country that reported a combined revenue of $7 billion in 2012.